Wood Anatomy of Cercidium (Fabaceae), with Emphasis on Vessel Wall Sculpture

Abstract

ABSTRAcrQuantitative and qualitative data are presented for wood anatomy of the seven species of Cercidium (including two subspecies of C. floridum as well as the hybrid C. x sonorae) currently recognized. Data on wood of Parkinsonia are presented for purposes of comparison. Vessel walls of Cercidium show unusual sculpture: coarse excrescences termed verrucae here, crateriform pits, and grooves interconnecting pit apertures. These plus crystal distribution, presence of septa in fibers, pit diameter, presence of vasicentric tracheids, and presence of diagonal vessel aggregations are probably species distinctions to various degrees. The crystal-bearing fibers of Cercidium, some of which have very thin walls, exemplify fiber dimorphism. Wood of Parkinsonia aculeata is amply distinct from that of Cercidium. Vessel element dimensions and density in Cercidium do not indicate exceptional xeromorphy for woods, perhaps because some species grow in desert washes, perhaps because other features (leaflessness, thick cuticle on stems) reduce transpiration. Vessel wall sculpture, vasicentric tracheid presence, and degree of vessel grouping are considered likely indicators of wood xeromorphy within the genus, however.

Vestures in Woody Plants: A Review

“…Note that Carlquist (1988aCarlquist ( , 1989b proposed the term 'verrucae' for vesture-like or wart-like structures observed in Cercidium (Fabaceae) because in this genus the excrescences that occur on vessel walls are much larger than usual vestures. Moreover, the shape of 'verrucae' tends to be angular or irregular and sometimes they are fused into lateral striae.…”

“…A more decisive argumentation to define a new character is based on the chemical composition or ontogeny. Moreover, Carlquist (1989b) noticed a continuum between vestures and 'verrucae' since he describes the vessel wall sculpture in Cercidium macrum as having 'small wart-like verrucae'. Parameswaran and Gomes (1981) and Baas and Zhang (1986) observed bud-like protrusions on the vessel wall of helical thickenings associated with vessel pits in Ligustrum.…”

Local and global climate signals from tree rings of Parkinsonia praecox in La Guajira, Colombia

“…Bands of marginal parenchyma have been previously described in many tropical species with annual rings within the family Fabaceae (Worbes, 2002; Trouet et al , 2001, 2010), to which this species belongs. Carlquist (1989) noted that the semi‐ring‐porous growth rings of this species are not well marked, but we had no problems in recognising them under the microscope. Abundis et al (2004) reached similar conclusions.…”

POTENTIAL UTILIZATION OF Blighia sapida K. Koenig WOOD AS EXPLAINED BY SELECTED ANATOMICAL PROPERTIES

“…This pattern of variation is not in agreement with the report of Anguruwa and Oluwadare (2019) and Areo (2021) who reported an increase from innerwood to outerwood. This may have been a result of the submission of Carlquist (1988) who stated that examination of the various diameter of cells and vessel elements in the radial direction, reveals an increase in vessel size fluctuates greatly, which may have resulted from a growth factor. It may have also been as a result of the submission of Thomas et al, (2004) that the size of the vessel or the diameter reduces with a higher wood density as it was reported by Olayanu et.al., (2022) that the density of Blighia sapida wood increase from the innerwood to outerwood.…”

“…Radially, vessel diameter increased slightly from the innerwood to the middlewood and then decreased slightly towards the outerwood. This may have been as a result of the submission of Carlquist (1988) who stated that examination of the various diameter of cells and vessel elements in the radial direction, reveals increase in vessel size fluctuates greatly, which may have resulted from growth factor.…”